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Sumit SinghalSumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

Villa MQ in Tremelo, Belgium by Office O architects

This spacious villa is situated in Tremelo (BE), on a large terrain surrounded by pines. The house was designed for a couple (with two children) that wanted something “special”.

While in other designs OOA’s approach is very conceptual, here we just let it flow. Taking in account the building regulations, we started sculpting the house around the desired programs, playing with the fundamental architectural elements and principles (form, space,…), taking away the usual references by using curved walls, different ceiling heights, light,…

The flowing lines of the plan unfold across five split-levels. The entrance of the house, which is half a level lower than street level, is reached by way of a slope within a concrete framework in an artificial landscape. Although the programs blend into each other, natural light provides a unique atmosphere at every level: the continuous dispersion of light on the curved walls emphasizes the impalpable framework. The sloping balustrade that consists of parabolic cables intensifies the interweaving of the different spaces. On the next level we find the kitchen, connected to the garden, and the slope towards the living room. An elongated cupola in the sloping ceiling / roof points the way to the highest zone, that of the children’s rooms. On this level, we also find the bathroom as a natural result of all preceding choices.

The space squeezes itself through the taille (the circulation space), accelerates temporarily (the stairs as connections between the levels), only to expand again, enhancing the dramatic effect. The visual language is characterized by emotion and lively agility. The views that are wrenched away from the fixed grid are nonetheless clearly framed and pushed toward the back. This emphasizes the organic forms. The seemingly lifted volume causes a feeling of massive zero gravity. Life unfolds, turned away from the street and oriented towards the gardens. The artificial landscape that is created inside is well defined and flows back to the surrounding lawn.